Separator for new paper money

ABSTRACT

New paper money in stacks or packages is fed along two spaced lower resilient corrugated belts driven by a motor. The corrugations of these belts engage corrugations in the lower runs of similar belts disposed above the lower belts. The upper belts feed bills from the stack or package of bills into the nips between the pairs of belts and slightly corrugate the bills to separate them and to prevent the bills from sticking together when again stacked or packaged.

United States Patent 1 Blaire SEPARATOR FOR NEW PAPER MONEY [75] Inventor: Pete Blaire, Greenville, Pa.

' [73] Assignees: Michael Halliday; Samuel J. Orr IV,

Greenville, Pa.; part interest to each 22 Filed: June 8,1971

[21] Appl.No.: 150,977

[52] US. Cl. 271/10, 271/34, 271/45 271/76, 425/370 [51] Int. Cl B65h 3/04, B65h 5/02 [58] Field of Search 271/34, 35, 16, 10, v

[.56] j References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,263,577 v 4/1918 Lochman 425/370 June 12,1973

2,394,026 2/1946 Tyler 271/34 X 3,291,481 12/1966 Godlewski 271/62 B 3,050,109 8/1962 Monaco 425/370 Primary ExaminerEvon C. Blunk Assistant ExaminerBruce H. Stoner, Jr. Attorney-Cameron, Kerkam & Sutton 57 ABSTRACT New paper money in stacks or packages is fed along two spaced lower resilient corrugated belts driven by a motor The corrugations of these belts engage corrugations in the lower runs of similar belts disposed above the lower belts. The upper belts feed bills from the stack or package of bills into the ni ps between the pairs of belts and slightly corrugate the bills to separate them and to prevent the bills from sticking together when again stacked or packaged.

5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PAH-1min JUN! 2|973 snaanurz INVENTOR PETE BLAIRE I a4rwzmv Mm inf law t1 ATTORNEYS PATENIEMMZ Y 3.738.642

SNEETZBFZ Jummmlm MIHIHHIIHHI 1 SEPARATOR FOR NEW PAPER MONEY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION New paper money as delivered to banks or other financial institutions is packaged in stacks which are firmly compressed and bound. .New bills from such stacks tend to stick together and it has been necessary to separate new bills from such stacks by hand prior to counting and distributing the bills for use by tellers. Such new bills tend to stick together even when removed from the initial stacks of bills and mistakes can be made in. cashing checks and the like, by such bills sticking together. l-Ieretofore only through use have bills lost their tendency to stick together.

The present invention overcomes these objections and prevents the bills from subsequently sticking together by feeding the new paper bills through interdigitating belts which corrugates the individual bill slightly and precludes the new bills from subsequently sticking together.

The prior art contains devices for corrugating paper sheets to separate them as in the patent to Schulze U.S. Pat. No. 2,766,044 of Oct. 9, 1956, but this patent does not disclose the present concept nor the apparatus for carrying it out. The patent to Pekera U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,368 of Nov. 17, 1970, and particularly FIG. 2 thereof, shows structure-for corrugating a paper sheet to free it from an endless conveyor, but here again nei' ther the construction nor the object is that of the present invention.

The patent to Fackler et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,506,257

of Apr. 14, 1970, shows corrugated endless belts for feeding sheet material but these belts are not disposed as proposed in the present concept for the purpose of mildly corrugating new paper money bills to prevent subsequent sticking together of the bills.

U. S. Pat. Nos. 2,145,299; 3,300,206; and 3,353,821 are representative of prior art patents in the feeding-of sheet material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION New paper money bills in stacks is fed along the lower runs of spaced corrugated belts to feed the bills to the nips between such belts and engaging lower corrugated belts. The corrugations of the cooperating belts interengage in the nips of the belts. The lower belts are driven by motor means and drive the upper belts. The bills passing through the nips of the belt are separated and slightly or mildly corrugated to prevent the bills from sticking together if again stacked or packaged.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters indicate like parts, a preferred embodiment of the separator for new paper money in accordance with the present invention is shown. In these drawings,

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the embodiment there shown has a base 10 mounting spaced vertical uprights l1 and 12; supports 13 and 14 spaced apart and spaced from uprights 11 and 12; slotted uprights l5 and 16 spaced apart and spaced from supports 13 and 14; and a shaft 17 mounted on top of the uprights 18 and 19 mounted on base 10 and secured thereto by fastenings 20 and 21. A bed 22 of suitable low friction material extends between uprights l5 and 16 and uprights 11 and 12 and is suitably spaced from base 10 as by support 23. A second bed 24 is secured between uprights 11 and 12 and is coplanar with bed 22 and is spaced therefrom for reasons which will appear more fully hereinafter.

A shaft25 extends across base and is mounted for rotation in suitable bearings 26 and 27 secured to base 10. A drive shaft 28 is mounted for rotation in uprights 11 and 12 and is rotated in a clockwise direction, as

seen in FIG. 2, by motor 29 driving through pulleys 30 and 31 and belt 32. An idler shaft 33 is mounted for rotation in uprights 11 and 12 parallel to and slightly above shaft 28 and is provided with suitable means 34 for adjusting the distance between shafts 28 and 33. The vertical plane passing through the long axes of shafts 28 and 33 passes through the space between beds 22 and 24.

Idler shaft 35 is mounted between supports 13 and 14 above base 10 and is secured thereto as by lock nuts 36 and 37. Pulleys 38 and 39 are mounted for free rotation on shaft 35.

A fifth shaft 40 extends between uprights 15' and 16 and is mounted in weighted bearings 41 and 42. Bearing 41 rides in slot 43 of upright 15 and bearing 42 rides in slot 44 of upright 16. Pulley 45 is fixed to shaft 40 as by lock nuts 46.

Spaced corrugated endless belts 47 and 48 are mounted around shaft 25 and around shaft 28 and are driven by the rotation of shaft 28. A curved metal guide 49 extends over shaft 25 between belts 47 and 48 to assist in the removal of the mildly corrugated bills from the mechanism.

A spaced pair of endless upper belts 50 and 51, corrugated similarly to belts 47 and 48, are mounted around shaft 33 and on pulleys 381 and 39, respectively. The corrugations in belt 50 engage the corrugations of belt 47 in the nip between the two belts and the corrugations of belt 51 engage in the corrugations of belt 48 in the nip between these belts, as is clearly seen in FIG. 2. The vertical position of shaft 3.3 may be suitably adjusted by mechanism 34 for proper interdigitation of the corrugations of these belts.

An endless belt 52 is mounted on shaft 33 between belts 50 and 51 and extends around pulley 45 on shaft 40. The lower run of belt52 is closely adjacent to bed 22 and the lower runs of belts 50 and 51 also are in close proximity to bed 22. The bottoms of the upper runs of belts 47 and 48 pass over bed 24.

A feed platform 53 is mounted for limited rocking movement on shaft 17 and has a downwardly extending tongue 54 extending under belt 52 and under the lower portion of pulley 45.

The endless belts referred to above are of suitable resilient material such as rubber or various resins and plastics.

Platform 53 may be provided with an angularly disposed surface 55 to receive a stack of bills 56 to direct the stack of bills to the nip between tongue 54 and belt 52.

In FIG. 3 a single bill 57 is schematically shown having spaced rows of mild corrugations 58 and 59 as applied thereto by the nips between belts 50 and 47 and belts 51 and 48 which prevent the bills from subsequently sticking together when stacked.

In the operation of the above-described preferred embodiment of the present invention, a stack of new bills 56 is placed on support 53 and extending downwardly on tongue 54 and against belt 52. Motor 2.9 is energized and the belts are put in motion in the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 2. Belt 52 engages the upper bill 57 of the stack of bills 56 and feeds the same downwardly beneath belt 52 and bed 22. Should more than one bill be fed at a time thus increasing the thickness of the bills passing beneath the belt 52, bearings 41 and 42 and shaft 40 rise in slots 43 and 44 to accommodate the feed to this additional thickness. By the time the bills have passed along bed 22 and come beneath the lower runs of belts 50 and 51, the bills should be separated and singly spaced to pass under belts 50 and 51 as individual bills. However, the corrugations of the lower runs of belts 50 and 51 will further separate any bills which may be stuck together so that the bills normally reach the nips between belts 50 and 47 and 51 and 48 as individual bills. In the nips between these belts the interdigitating corrugations mildly corrugate the paper of the bills in two spaced series of corrugations 58 and 59 as seen in FIG. 3. The mildly corrugated bill is then removed by the upper runs of belts 47 and 48 and discharged over guide 49. Thereafter, the mildly corrugated bills will not normally stick together when stacked or packaged.

Of course, if necessary, new bills may be run through the machine as many times as required to provide corrugating thereof to prevent sticking of the bills together if later piled or stacked.

Cross members 60 and 61 may be mounted on the ends of uprights l8 and 19 and 11 and 12, respectively, both to space these pairs of uprights and to afford means for carrying the mechanism.

What I claim is:

1. In a separator for new paper money bills, a base, spaced lower endless resilient corrugated belts mounted for movement above and parallel to said base, upper endless resilient corrugated belts mounted for movement above and parallel to said base and above said lower belts, vertically adjacent ones of said upper and lower belts having limited interdigitation forming nips of interengaging corrugations mildly corrugating the bills on spaced rows, means for driving said lower belts, said lower belts driving said upper belts, a bed beneath and closely adjacent to said upper belts and means for feeding bills between said upper belts and said bed for movement by said upper belts through the nips between said upper and lower belts, said lower belts moving the bills away from the nips between said upper and lower belts.

2. A separator as described in claim 1, said means for feeding bills including an endless belt moving in the same direction as said upper belts over said bed and platform means receiving bills and guiding the bills between said last-named belt and said bed for movement between said upper belts and said bed.

3. A separator as described in claim 2 including first and second spaced shafts for said lower belts mounted for rotation on said base, said driving means including motor means rotating one of said shafts, spaced third and fourth shafts for said upper belts mounted for rotation on said base, said first and third shafts being disposed for forming a nip between the corrugations of corresponding ones of said upper and lower belts, a fifth shaft mounted for rotation on and for vertical movement with respect to said base, said last-named belt extending between said fourth and fifth shafts and being driven by said fourth shaft.

4. A separator as described in claim 3, said platform means being mounted for limited rocking movement on said base and a tongue extending from said platform means downwardly between said last-named belt and said bed.

5. A separator as described in claim 4 including means for spacing said third shaft with respect to said first shaft. 

1. In a separator for new paper money bills, a base, spaced lower endless resilient corrugated belts mounted for movement above and parallel to said base, upper endless resilient corrugated belts mounted for movement above and parallel to said base and above said lower belts, vertically adjacent ones of said upper and lower belts having limited interdigitation forming nips of interengaging corrugations mildly corrugating the bills on spaced rows, means for driving said lower belts, said lower belts driving said upper belts, a bed beneath and closely adjacent to said upper belts and means for feeding bills between said upper belts and said bed for movement by said upper belts through the nips between said upper and lower belts, said lower belts moving the bills away from the nips between said upper and lower belts.
 2. A separator as described in claim 1, said means for feeding bills including an endless belt moving in the same direction as said upper belts over said bed and platform means receiving bills and guiding the bills between said last-named belt and said bed for movement between said upper belts and said bed.
 3. A separator as described in claim 2 including first and second spaced shafts for said lower belts mounted for rotation on said base, said driving means including motor means rotating one of said shafts, spaced third and fourth shafts for said upper belts mounted for rotation on said base, said first and third shafts being disposed for forming a nip between the corrugations of corresponding ones of said upper and lower belts, a fifth shaft mounted for rotation on and for vertical movement with respect to said base, said last-named belt extending between said fourth and fifth shafts and being driven by said fourth shaft.
 4. A separator as described in claim 3, said platform means being mounted for limited rocking movement on said base and a tongue extending from said platform means downwardly between said last-named belt and said bed.
 5. A separator as described in claim 4 including means for spacing said third shaft with respect to said first shaft. 